ISTANBUL // Turkey began voting on Sunday in a referendum on expanding the president's powers in a ballot that will determine its political future but whose outcome remains unclear after a bitterly-contested campaign.
Over 55.3 million Turks are able to vote in the referendum on sweeping changes to the president's role which, if accepted, would grant Recep Tayyip Erdogan more power than any Turkish leader since its founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk and his successor Ismet Inonu.
Polling stations opened in Diyarbakir and other eastern cities at 7am, while voting in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities got under way an hour later.
Opinion polls, always treated with caution in Turkey, predicted wildly divergent scenarios with analysts saying the outcome remains too close to call despite the clear advantage in resources and airtime enjoyed by the Yes campaign.
As the rival sides held rallies to sway undecided voters up until the very last minute on Saturday, Mr Erdogan confidently predicted the Yes camp had victory in the bag.
But he urged people not to succumb to "lethargy" and go out and vote.
Speaking from Istanbul on Sunday, Emrah Yerlinkaya said he voted Yes "to support" Mr Erdogan. "If we are here today, it is thanks to him. I also voted because I support the constitutional reform."
If passed, the new presidential system would dispense with the office of prime minister and centralise the entire executive bureaucracy under the president, giving Mr Erdogan the direct power to appoint ministers. The system would come into force after the elections in November 2019.
Mr Erdogan, who became president in 2014 after serving as premier from 2003, could then seek two more five-year mandates.
But it could also have even wider implications for the key Nato member, which for the last half-century has set its sights on joining the European Union.
Mr Erdogan has warned Brussels that in the event of a Yes vote he would sign any bill agreed by parliament to reinstate capital punishment, a move that would automatically end its EU bid.
Western reactions to the referendum outcome will be crucial, after Mr Erdogan accused Turkey's allies of failing to show sufficient solidarity after the July 15 failed coup.
"The referendum will mark another turning point, or rather crossroads in Turkey's political history," wrote Hurriyet Daily News chief editor Murat Yetkin.
Sinan Ekim and Kemal Kirisci of the Brookings Institution think tank said in a report the changes if agreed "would set in motion the most drastic shake-up of the country's politics and system of governance in its 94-year-long history".
* Agence France-Presse
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